


A Forest

by Lyssandra_Med



Series: One-Shot [64]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Freeform, dream - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25939147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyssandra_Med/pseuds/Lyssandra_Med
Summary: Deep breath in.Deep breath out.Bellatrix opened her eyes to the morning sun and wondered.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange
Series: One-Shot [64]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1429282
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	A Forest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Agogobell28](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agogobell28/gifts).



> No edit, freeform. No real plot. Just following a feeling.

Bright eyes closed to a landscape not so dissimilar from actual reality.

There was a copse of trees at the furthest edges of the horizon, great beasts that broke through the crust of the earth to scrape low at the sky. They tottered back and forth, the wind against them and then within them, flowing as it passed through boughs and leaves. Life sprung from hard-packed clay and salt that had been scattered by ancient packs of sea ice.

This world called home in a language all its own.

There was somewhere like this elsewhere and forever away. Its memories were filtered to the top, the bodies wandering as they searched for a dream they had forgotten. Fresh youth pulling its features into clarity.

Space popped with all the luminous intensity of a soap bubble, drew itself inwards and rolled. Twisted until the forest had grown up overhead and the wind began to speak. It rose in pitch, crashed down with its heightened timbre, spoke only to itself and its neighbours. Spoke of red things, weeping sap. Crying for all those torn down too soon.

Rain and ruin rode hand in hand, saw blight crop up in vein and root. The brilliance of green turned brown as a winter everlasting settled and claimed its place. 

Winter came.

Winter went.

Brown turned into a cascade of green as life chose new roles. Leaves were short and stumped at first while little creatures came into their own. Roots flushed with brackish water and filtered away the poison. The sun brought light, the clouds brought shade, and the wind brought pollen.

Acorns fell.

Quick eyes would have been able to see the shift, but sharp eyes were too busy watching memories that  _ could _ be real. Quick eyes watched memories of auburn and a spine that rose with the presumptuous might of towering pine trees. Straight and rigid, formed just so that it could outlast the torrential downpour of a hurricane. Quick eyes bore questions; quick eyes saw answers.

The forest remained.

A tree fell somewhere, and somewhere else someone apologised for someone else’s mistakes. Apologised for the light falling dim within their eyes.

Someone was no one and nowhere was here, and here it did not matter.

The light scattered across the forest as it turned to whispers held on the softest breeze. A secret was laid bare to the world and silver eyes watched the roll. They saw the grass creeping in between pines and oak, they watched as sumac clung stubbornly to the edges despite being towered over by her brothers. They watched as vines clambered on top of trunks, clung relentlessly to branches. A carpet rolled sideways and turned into a blanket as kudzu ate up everything within its path.

Somewhere else they watched a deer trod down upon a thin branch no thicker than a needle. They watched the snap of pressure that alerted the squirrel to its arrival and they watched as the acorn held within its jaws fell down to the ground. They watched that acorn grow and silver eyes peered, delighted, as it rose above all the others. A twisting loop of bark and hardy growth allowed it purchase within the forest. Silver eyes watched as it rolled off towards the right where rain and sun forced growth and love, and saw the empty left where ancient pines fell to rot from lack of sustenance.

A spark crashed down from the heavens.

Lightning forked and twisted around itself in budding fractals. The lead hit and ozone bloomed, and then there was  _ quiet. _ There was a sense of peace. There was a clearing of the air as the burst of thunder rolled across every blade of grass, every leaf, every branch and limb subjected to that calming motion.

The world crashed once and clarity blossomed from the rains.

Coalesced.

Retreated back. Green flowing and the light diminishing as the sun rolled across the horizon. The breeze kicked up and wind pooled low, all the heat from the day returning now to stone and gravel, detritus that picked energy as the world tightened down.

Bellatrix fell back into the land and wondered with some small amount of amusement if this mattered at all.

Perhaps she was simply mad.

Hermione wasn’t there to tell her. They’d fallen off to sleep after a night filled late with raucous laughter and the meeting of other friends, two polar opposites finally coming together.

But Hermione had told her that she wouldn’t be there when Bellatrix awoke. She had plans to oversee, places she needed to be. Same age but different minds, different groups and wants.

Anxiety had blossomed. Spiking heart rate. Shallow breath.

She didn’t want just one night, one moment to be written off.

But then Hermione had kissed her and said to sleep, to dream. When they woke they would work it out, distance be damned.

Grass warmed beneath Bellatrix’s neck. Somewhere in the forest the croaking sound of a bird reached her ears. Somewhere else a deer walked along a path she could not see. A cricket spoke of love. A snake wove lanes between fallen logs and flooded holes. A creature made a sound and with it rose the soundtrack of the forest, filling her ears and relieving the pressure of all that worry.

Air fell gently against her skin in a sheen of crystals that no winter had ever produced. Warmth spread from the fire in her heart. 

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Bellatrix opened her eyes to the morning sun and wondered.

_ Now? _

_ Forever? _

One day rolling onto the next, another after that. So many days ahead and so many were meant to be harsh. Winter's passionate kiss. Others would be heated beneath the ministrations of a cloudless summer sky.

She would survive.


End file.
